I've been trying to write this post for ages tonight and I am suffering from a serious lack of imagination for a title too ... obviously! 🤫

Today was a decent day, tiring but decent! Just a normal 8 a.m. start in the kitchen and I got a brown yeast bread started! Today I took the opportunity to practise some techniques for the upcoming exam ... segmenting an orange (Yes, really) and making omelettes ... 3 oranges successfully segmented and 4 omelettes made ... we won't talk about the one I double salted by mistake ... (as we know I get distracted easily) ... and I made myself sick by tasting it! 🤮

Not a bad day in the kitchen ... bread turned out good, Irish stew was excellent and in my opinion my soup was excellent ... my teacher (Pat) had another opinion ... that it was on the edge of being over salted ... I disagreed ... we agreed to disagree ... a headlock was considered as an option to resolve 😝

I skipped lunch today as I didn't feel great and instead enjoyed thirty minutes or so of down time sitting in the garden! ☀️✅

Todays demo was with Rory and focused on Grilled steaks and Frangipane primarily ... the dishes from today ...

Crudités with Aioli
Pinzimonio with Capezzana Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Pan-grilled Sirloin or Fillet Steak - Béarnaise Sauce
Different types of Frites
Pan-grilled Steak with Salsa Verde, Horseradish Cream and Organic Greens
French Fried Onions
Cauliflower Cheese
Pommes Allumettes;
Rocket and Olive Salad
Beef Stock
Normandy Pear Tart
Red wine sauce
Apricot and Frangipane Tart
Bakewell Tart
Ballymaloe Spiced Beef
Rhubarb Parfait
Cauliflower Steaks infused with Ginger and Spices

This evening after demo I had a little cabin fever so I decided to head down to Ballycotton for a bit ... while there I went into Skinny's cafe (chipper) for some fish and chips ... on returning to the house I realised the lady in the chipper had given me two portions ... thankfully Christian (my housemate) was around to share the feed ... he also opened a bottle of his wine from his own vineyard ... "Clau de Nell" (click for link) - Christian runs a bio dynamic vineyard in Anjou, France. His wines are very famous in the organic wine world, it just to happens that they are also excellent and really worth trying ... (available in Luxembourg from VINALY.lu - Howald) and in Ireland from www.terroirs.ie (not trying to sell them ... but a lot of you ... especially in Lux are into your wine ... and when you read up on industrial wine chemicals you will be glad I recommended this one 😜😇)

Something else interesting ... or curious at least ... we are doing a test with that bottle of wine (no we didn't finish the bottle) ... Christian believes that because the wine is bio dynamic it lasts longer once opened ... he reckons after 4 / 5 days it will still be very good to drink ... we will see 🧐

Tomorrow ... last day of week 5 ! (seriously!!!)

Day Thirty Two - WWE almost comes to Ballymaloe (almost)